The Palestinian Authority was following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with US President Barack Obama Tuesday, and officials expressed hope that the latter had pressed the Israeli leader on issues up for negotiation.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was said to believe more progress needs to be made in proximity talks before moving on to direct talks.
"President Abu-Mazen is committed to agreements with US President Barack Obama, and stresses that more progress needs to be made on key issues before moving on to direct talks," said Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh.
Abu Rudeina told AFP Tuesday that "the Palestinian leadership is waiting for answers on issues of borders and security before entering into direct talks".
Meanwhile, Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib told Ynet that he was not impressed by the overly friendly atmosphere displayed by the US and Israeli leaders. "These compliments may be a public relations effort," he said.
Obama and Netanyahu in Washington (Photo: AFP)
"We hope that in the real talks, President Obama will press Israel not to renew construction in settlements and to show more commitment to the process and trust-building steps, as the president himself said at the end of the meeting."
Khatib said the Palestinians were also interested in direct talks, but that more trust-building measures were required on Israel's part – namely stopping construction in settlements and transferring authority in the West Bank to the Palestinian government.
The spokesman added that during proximity talks the Palestinians had presented solutions for problems of security and borders, but that Israel had not taken the talks seriously.
Khatib warned that if Israeli ministers' calls for renewal of construction after the freeze ended were realized, no negotiations would be possible.
"It is difficult to combine the settlements with peace talks, because the negotiations are mainly about borders, and the settlements and construction make one-sided decisions on the situation inevitable," he said.
After the meeting between Netanyahu and Obama, which went 40 over its scheduled time, the latter said it "marked just one more chapter in the extraordinary friendship between our two countries".
The president added that Israel "wants peace" and is serious about its intentions to move forward to direct negotiations with the Palestinians.